Technology: Solar plane sets off for Kitty Hawk

AN AEROPLANE powered by the Sun is planned to fly across the US this week to demonstrate a new type of lightweight solar cell made of flexible film and developed by the Japanese company Sanyo Electric. Test flights of the 'Sun Seeker' (pictured right), built by Eric Raymond, began last weekend in Desert Center, California. If the tests are considered successful, the plane will fly some 3600 kilometres across the country, landing in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the site of the first flight in a powered craft by the Wright Brothers in 1903.

The Sun Seeker carries a single pilot and weighs just 90 kilograms. The top surfaces of the wings are covered by 700 of the Sanyo solar cells. The 700 cells, made from amorphous silicon, generate about 300 watts of electricity. This charges nickel-cadmium batteries which drive a propeller 2.4 metres in diameter to get the plane off ...

To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

To continue reading this article, log in or subscribe to New Scientist

App + web

Web

Smartphone

Tablet

$25.99 - Save 65%

12 issues for $2.17 per issue

with continuous service

Print + web

Print

Web

$28.99 - Save 61%

12 issues for $2.42 per issue

with continuous service

Print + app + web

Print

Web

Smartphone

Tablet

$39.99 - Save 73%

12 issues for $3.33 per issue

with continuous service

Web

Web only

$49.99

30 day web pass

Prices may vary according to delivery country and associated local taxes.